The retail boom is still happening as official figures confirm the updates from retailers large and small in the past few months.
Confirmation of the continuing boom came last Friday that Australian retail turnover rose a solid, seasonally adjusted 1.4% in October with the re-opening of Victoria playing the major part in continuing the strong pace of consumption reported in the September quarter GDP report last week.
According to the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Retail Trade figures the 1.4% outcome was less than the preliminary rise of 1.6% and but more than offset the 1.1% slide in September.
At the same time, while online sales growth slowed a little, it is still more than 65% higher than it was in October 2019 – possibly the single greatest change in Australian business activity in the pandemic.
Updates from the likes of Coles, Woolworths, Bunnings, Officeworks, Kmart, Adairs, and Premier Investments have confirmed that the solid growth in sales seen in the final months of 2019-20 has continued into the first three to four months of the new financial year.
ABS Director of Quarterly Economy Wide Surveys, Ben James said on Friday said: “the reopening of physical stores in Victoria led to national rises for cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services (5.4 percent), clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing (6.8 percent), other retailing (2.0 percent), and department stores (4.5 percent).”
Household goods retailing saw a 1% fall but continued to record high levels of turnover compared to a year ago.
Victoria with a 5.1% rise led state and territory rises, and there were also rises for New South Wales (0.7%), Western Australia (1.0% percent), and South Australia (0.6%) in October 2020.
Falls were reported in Queensland (-0.5%), Tasmania (-1.4%), the Northern Territory (-0.6%) fell and the ACT with a fall of just 0.1%.
At the national level, turnover rose 7.1% compared to October 2019, up sharply from the 5.6% annual rate in September.
Growth in online sales slowed slightly in October but remains well above this time last year. Retail sales totalled $29.552 billion in October, up from $29.157 billion in September and $27.572 billion a year ago.
The ABS said online sales made up 10.4% of total retail turnover in October 2020, or $3.07 billion, down from 10.6%, or $3.09 billion in September but well ahead of the 6.6% share in October, 2019 ($1.81 billion).
That’s an increase of more than $1.25 billion from October 2019 to October this year, or 68%
